A number of markers are used in the diagnosis of coronary diseases such as NSTEMI and acute coronary syndrome, e.g., troponin T, C-reactive protein (CRP) and brain-natriuretic peptide (BNP). The elevation of the concentration of one of these markers is associated with an elevation in the likelihood of ischemic events, including death. This is described, for example, in the publications Hamm et al. (New Engl. J. Med. 327 (1992), 146-150), Hamm et al. (New Engl. J. Med. 340 (1999), 1823-1629, Heeschen et al. (The Lancet 354 (1999), 1757-1962), Klootwijk and Hamm (The Lancet 353, Suppl. II (1999), 10-15), Wei et al. (Circulation 88 (1993), 1004-1009), De Lemos (New Engl. J. Med. 345 (2001), 1014-1021). In De Winter et al. (Cardiovasc. Res. 42 (1999), 240-245) and De Winter et al. (Clin. Chem. 46 (2000), 1597-1603). CRP and troponin I or troponin T are two independent markers for the risk stratification of patients with acute coronary syndrome.
The disadvantage of diagnostic procedures using one or two markers, is that all high-risk patients are not successfully identified. Therefore methods for diagnosing myocardial infarction and/or for risk stratification of acute coronary syndrome that have improved identification of high-risk patients is needed in the art.